Suvendu Adhikari Joins BJP At Amit Shah's Rally In Bengal

West Bengal political heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari joins BJP at Union home minister Amit Shah's rally in Midnapore.

TMC MP Sunil Mondal, nine sitting MLAs, including five from Mamata Banerjee's party join BJP,  which hopes to topple the Mamata Banerjee government in 2021, in the presence of Union home minister Amit Shah during his rally in West Midnapore district on Saturday afternoon, senior leaders of the BJP's Bengal unit said. 

This was the biggest event of MLAs changing camp at one event during Bengal's recent political history. 

While politicians switching over camps has been a new phenomenon in Bengal -- since the TMC's ascent to power in 2011 -- nearly three dozen MLAs from the Congress and the Left had switched over to the TMC over the past nine years. 

The biggest name of those going to take up the lotus in their hands on Saturday is of Suvendu Adhikari, who tendered his resignation at the Assembly earlier this week. He held three ministerial portfolios in Mamata Banerjee's cabinet until resigning in November and, until July, he was the TMC's in-charge for five of the state's 23 districts. 

For the TMC, Adhikari had played a crucial role in getting to defect Left and Congress MLAs to the TMC. 

Several of those TMC MLAs who are likely to join the BJP in Shah's presence are known as Adhikari's loyalists and are quitting the party at Adhikari's call. 

Those likely to join include Barrackpore MLA Silbhadra Dutta, Kalna MLA Biswajit Kundu, Gajole MLA Dipali Biswas, Contai North MLA Banashree Maiti, Diamond Harbour MLA Dipal Haldar and Khejuri MLA Ranjit Mandal. Burdwan East MP Sunil Mandal is also likely to be present on Shah's dais. 

Haldia's CPI(M) MLA Tapasi Mandal and Tamluk's CPI MLA Ashok Dinda are also likely to switch over to the camp of their ideological rivals. 

Names of the Congress MLAs Sudip Mukherjee and Biswanath Parial are doing the rounds. 

The 49-year-old former minister had also served as Lok Sabha MP two times and the TMC's youth wing president. He had been one of the most popular TMC leaders in the state after Mamata Banerjee. 

Incidentally, the two TMC leaders who played the biggest roles behind getting Congress and Left leaders to defect to TMC are Mukul Roy and Suvendu Adhikari, of who the former joined BJP in 2017 and has since been instrumental in getting disgruntled TMC leaders to join the BJP. 

Now, with Roy and Adhikari in the opponent camp, the TMC is likely to face a tough challenge in keeping its house in order, political observers feel. 

Over the past two years, TMC MLAs Subhranshu Roy, Biswajit Das, Dulal Bar, Wilson Champramari, Manirul Islam, Arjun Singh, Sunil Singh, Sovan Chatterjee, Sabyasachi Dutta and Mihir Goswami have joined the BJP. 

Former TMC youth wing president and Lok Sabha MP Saumitra Khan is now the BJP's Lok Sabha MP and youth wing president. TMC's former youth wing leader Nishith Adhikari is the BJP MP from Cooch Behar. 

"December 19 will mark the day of the beginning of the TMC's collapse like a house of cards," said BJP state unit president Dilip Ghosh. 

TMC secretary-general and state education minister Partha Chatterjee downplayed the imminent desertions. 

"A few leaders changing camps would not matter. People vote in the name of Mamata Banerjee and leaders win in the name of Mamata Banerjee," Chatterjee said. 

Sougata Roy, TMC Lok Sabha MP, said, "Most of those changing camps have been more of liabilities than assets." 

(With PTI inputs)